U.S. Stocks Tick Higher As Energy Prices Jump

U.S. stocks edged higher Wednesday as energy companies climbed with the price of oil. Banks also rose, and investors sold traditionally safe stocks. A survey showed that hiring by private companies continued at a solid but uninspiring clip in July.

Stocks opened lower but gradually recovered to finish at their highest levels of the day. The price of oil jumped after the U.S. government said gasoline stockpiles shrank last week. A survey showed private U.S. business payrolls grew by 179,000 in July as retailers and shipping firms hired more workers. That suggests hiring is still healthy, but that wasn’t enough to excite investors.

The Dow Jones industrial average broke a seven-day losing streak and added 41.23 points, or 0.2 percent, to 18,355. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 6.76 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,163.79. The Nasdaq composite rose 22 points, or 0.4 percent, to 5,159.74.

The employment survey by payroll processor ADP suggests employers continue to hire new workers and at a faster pace than they were this spring, when hiring slowed sharply. Still, growth has been sluggish this year. The Labor Department will release a report Friday that includes hiring by government as well as private companies. Experts think it will show a gain of about 175,000 jobs.

The price of crude oil jumped after the U.S. government said stockpiles of gasoline shrank by more than 3 million barrels last week. S&P Global Platts said that was far more than expected, and that total oil production also decreased slightly. That helped oil bounce back from the slump that’s taken it from $50 a barrel in early June down to around $40.

Benchmark U.S. crude added $1.32, or 3.3 percent, to $40.83 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, rose $1.30, or 3.1 percent, to $43.10 a barrel in London.

That translated into big gains for energy companies. Williams Cos. rose $1.71, or 7.1 percent, to $25.67 and Devon Energy gained $1.88, or 5.2 percent, to $38.

Earnings reports continued to stream in. Luxury clothing, handbag and accessories company Kate Spade skidded $3.67, or 18.2 percent, to $16.47 after it disclosed weak results and lowered its estimates for the year.

Footwear maker Crocs plunged after its second-quarter sales fell $25 million short of analyst estimates. Crocs projected a bigger shortfall in the current quarter, and the company said it expects overall revenue to shrink this year. Its stock gave up $2.56, or 23.3 percent, to $8.44.

The price of gold fell $8.30 to $1,356.10 an ounce. Silver fell 23 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $20.47 an ounce. Copper lost 1 cent to $2.20 a pound.

In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline rose 4 cents to $1.35 a gallon. Heating oil added 3 cents to $1.29 a gallon. Natural gas gained 11 cents to $2.84 per 1,000 cubic feet.

France’s CAC 40 dipped 0.2 percent, as did the FTSE 100 in Britain. Germany’s DAX picked up 0.3 percent. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 1.9 percent and South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.2 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped 1.8 percent. Japanese stocks have been slipping because the country’s recently-announced stimulus package, worth around $272 billion, fell short of expectations. Much of the money is already in the pipeline. Meanwhile a strong yen is also deepening pessimism over prospects for Japan’s recovery.

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